BEIRUT — Army troops moved into the streets of Tripoli on Monday, restoring a precarious calm in northern Lebanon after 10 people died in heavy clashes in recent days, military officials said.
"The situation is back to normal since this afternoon, when the army entered all the neighborhoods where the fighting happened," said a high-ranking military officer, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. "Our intervention came after a political agreement between all parties."
The fighting between supporters of the Western-backed, Sunni-led government and a minority group allied with Hezbollah, which has links to Iran and Syria, further strained a political agreement reached in May that ended Lebanon's worst civil violence in years.
The accord brokered by Qatar led to parliament's election of Gen. Michel Suleiman as president, but bickering over key ministries has prevented the formation of a national unity government. Observers said that security in the country remained fragile and that Hezbollah was moving to consolidate its political victory from the Qatar talks.
The Shiite Muslim militant group, which will make up one-third of the new national unity government, is pressing to control all of the country's security institutions.
"There won't be at the head of any security apparatus in Lebanon, or any army position, someone who does not enjoy the trust of the resistance," Hezbollah's foreign relations officer, Nawaf Moussawi, said in a speech Saturday.
"Nobody will be able to appoint at any position someone whose allegiance to the nation is doubtful or who is conspiring against the resistance," Moussawi said.
Sami Nader, a professor of international relations at Beirut's St. Joseph University, said Hezbollah's main challenge is to ensure "harmony" with the army.
"The core issue today for Hezbollah is the country's security system," Nader said. "In 2005, Hezbollah lost its once-complete harmony with the army. They now want to regain their full trust in the allegiance of the army to them."
Some analysts believe that Hezbollah is reacting to new regional political strategies that are not in its favor. Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said Hezbollah is attempting to strengthen its influence, especially against the backdrop of negotiations between Israel and Syria.
